[B-Greek] APOCALYPTIC INTERPRETIVE CONTEXT re: APO KATABOLHS KOSMOU
Richard W. Wilson
rwwilson147 at swbell.net
Wed Nov 9 10:55:25 EST 2005
I know many of us are skating the fringes of the solid ice of B-Greek
protocols, but big picture issues of textual interpretation can perhaps
avoid falling through. (Hence the change in subject)
So, Elizabeth Kline reasserts the importance of interpretive context.
While "the central idea of apocalyptic" may reasonably be characterized
as something like "the unveiling of [the] divine plan which was
established APO KATABOLHS KOSMOU," this doesn't really eliminate the
possibility that aspects of "The Book," or Books, are still being
written, or are written when they are revealed. To whit, individual and
particular detailed aspects of those books are never said to be written
en toto at creation in the biblical texts I have seen. This is
especially the case with our texts here (Rev 13:8 and 17:8) that merely
say names have NOT been written from the foundations of the world and
nothing in particular about the names that have been written.
OK, here is a B-Greek question: If there is a text that makes an
absolutist assertion about God's pre-writing of history please point us
to that text and we'll unpack it.
I am no stranger to the study of "second temple" apocalyptic
litererature and its influence on the NT. We post-biblical thinkers are
rather prone to over-rationalize hebraic/jewish biblical thought into a
(sometimes theo-)logical box that doesn't do justice to the paradoxical
nuances of the thought world in which they lived. So, I am inclined to
think that it is a bit presumptuous to camp out on one end of the
spectrum regarding what is written APO KATABOLHS KOSMOU.
I'm open to being persauded otherwise, but I haven't yet seen any
biblical text that asserts an absolute foreknowing or foredetermining of
everything by God prior to or at creation. That God is seen as working
everything out according to his purposes, that all that happens is
allowed to happen, that he will even determine the outcome of all future
events may be clear, but when all things are known and determined is
another matter.
Yours in Christ,
Richard Wilson
-- Richard W. Wilson, BA, MCS, MA; Our Net Services, St. Louis, MO
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list